by Guy Page
The Vermont Board of Pharmacy has approved a $275,000 fine as part of a settlement between the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) and Walgreens, the national pharmacy chain and Vermont’s largest chain pharmacy. The fine follows a myriad of Covid-era complaints, an 18-month investigation, and prosecution regarding the corporation’s practices across the chain’s Vermont locations, the Secretary of State’s office reported Wednesday, Jan. 24.
Charges were initially filed in June 2022 in response to 70 complaints regarding unsafe conditions across Walgreens’ 32 Vermont locations. OPR investigators, visiting every one of the corporation’s pharmacies in the state, documented untenable working conditions for pharmacists, medication and vaccination errors, controlled substance storage violations, and a trend of unexpected store closures without notice, the office said.
“Our Office’s primary responsibility is to ensure that the public’s health, safety, and welfare are protected,” said Kevin A. Rushing, Director of OPR. “Our goal in this case was not necessarily punitive, but remedial. This settlement is a strong consequence of Walgreens’ business practices, and it codifies remedial measures taken by Walgreens Corporation in response to the investigation. Those measures ensure the needs of their staff are met and Vermonters are protected.”
According to a July, 2022 Vermont Daily Chronicle news report, OPR investigators found a drug store chain trying to cope with severe Covid-era understaffing and additional responsibilities of Covid testing and vaccination.
- A substantial cause of reported patient safety issues at Vermont Walgreens locations was insufficient staffing for the pharmacy workload, which includes filling prescriptions, verifications, patient consultations, administering vaccinations, and conducting Covid tests.
- An online vaccine scheduler which enabling patients to schedule vaccine appointments scheduled appointments “without regard for or consideration of available staffing.”
- Lack of adequate pharmacy staff resulted in over three hundred and twenty-five days in which unexpected and unscheduled retail pharmacy closures occurred throughout the State between July 2020 and April 2022, leaving thousands of patients without access to prescription medications.
- In mid-July of 2020, staffing shortages were especially widespread and acute, causing unscheduled pharmacy closures in Bennington, Brandon, Hardwick, Lyndonivlle, West Rutland, Morrisville, and Burlington.
- On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, when a re-assigned pharmacist arrived to work for three days at the Brattleboro store, the pharmacy was in a state of significant disorganization, with prescription vials and pills on the floor, two unlabeled vials on shelves with a variety of pills in them, cluttered counter space and generally unclean conditions.
Several paragraphs from a Vermont Secretary of State press release were included in this news report.
Categories: Health Care
A measly fine that benefits the state is this state’s “great outcome” for Vermonters? Meanwhile, the Walgreen’s Pharmacy in Manchester, for but one example, has continuously remained completely closed on the weekends during this time and continued to employ just one lone pharmacist with sometimes no technicians checking accuracy of prescriptions filled. The local urgent care facility continued to hear complaints from patients who have received either the incorrect drug or dosage.
As always, follow the money and forget about what’s good for the people.
Are the working class going to get this? I doubt it. It’s going into somebody’s pet project
They say, “Follow the money” so let’s do it…. The State grabs 300,000 thousand from motels in the state(deposit money the state paid to motels) to accommodate the homeless during covid and as a political gesture of humanity, they give the money to the homeless. now the state needs to recover this COVID cash, so they attacked Walgreens with inspections from complaints about stores not being properly run during COVID. the state managed to collect 275,000 in fines. Only 25,000 short. I’m sure they will collect the rest.
Great. Now fine them for administering vaccines without also delivering fully informed consent—namely, that the mRNA shots are a gene therapy, and are classified as such by the American Society of Cell and Gene Therapy. Then the State of Vermont and its Dept of Health can fine itself for the same.
No, COVID-19 vaccines aren’t gene therapy
https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-covid-vaccines-gene-therapy-806280914802
Where’s the evidence that mRNA vaccines are classified as gene therapy “by the American Society of Cell and Gene Therapy”? Can’t find anything on their website. Sounds like a made up claim as usual from the anti-vaxxers who said that COVID-19 vaccines would cause mass extinctions. Oops.
Can’t understand why any chain establishment would want to do business in VT.
Vermont does not hold up it’s end of the bargain by enforcing basic shoplifting and vagrancy laws. Who ends up getting hurt are law-abiding consumers who now have our choices limited, hours of operation curtailed, higher prices to account for shoplifting losses and having to wait for a store clerk to unlock the plexiglass barriers to access basic items like toothpaste and underwear. Yea, socialism is working out really well…
The State dings Walgreens $275K for mishandling prescription drugs and staffing issues during the plandemic? Who set forth the dystopian nonsense and pressed the panic button that set everything and everyone into semi-organized chaos? Appears the State is pursuing end-around shake downs of corporations who carried their water and pushed the propaganda campaign. I’m sure it doesn’t matter because Big Pharma made hundreds of billions off COVID. They will simply cut their middle-man pharmacy a check – $275K is chump change to them and keep pushing their poison nonetheless. Collusion and conspiracy to commit fraud is a lucrative business and look how many got their cut and still scrambling for it.